 One
way of stopping all the doing is to change into the "being mode"
for a moment. Think of yourself as a timeless witness.
Observe this moment, without attempting to change it at all. What
is happening? What do you feel, see and hear?
The word meditation is commonly misunderstood. In this context, meditation
is not a method of contemplation or prayer. Meditation simply means
"stopping and being present." Meditation enables you to focus
your attention inwardly or within.
By practising meditation regularly the spiritual path becomes clearer
and the mind is calmed. By practising meditation one does not become
a slave to authority nor a pawn in the events of the external world.
Instead, meditation allows the individual to think and act from the
centre of his/her own being.
One has to be ready for meditation. You have to come to it when you
are ready to listen carefully to your own voice, your own heart and
to your own breathing; you have to be present for and with them without
being anywhere else or doing anything else. You have to learn to be
physically still, to have a composed breath and develop a calm mind.
To meditate you have to learn to act with devotion and commitment.
Meditation then is akin to the word "medical," meaning
"to attend." Contemplation involves searching for the "internal
core", some kind of “truth”. Whereas, meditation involves
experiencing that “internal core” or "truth."
Meditation does not involve reflective or discursive thinking, but,
the training of the mind to dwell on an interior focus without wandering
until it becomes absorbed in the object of contemplation. This absorption
does not make you unconscious, nor is it hypnotic
The external world may be forgotten as the state of meditation involves
an intense inner wakefulness. This absorption is similar in nature
to being engrossed in a film or book and thus becoming oblivious to
your surroundings.
If you are called, you may not hear your name; your attention is
on the film or book. Meditation may be considered comparable to this.
However, the main difference is that you are focusing on consciousness
itself, which means all your senses have to close down.
The student asks
'Who makes my mind think?
Who fills my body with life?
Who causes my tongue to speak?
Who is it that sees through my eyes?
Who is it that hears through my ears?'
The Teacher replies:
'The Self is the ear of the ear,
The eye of the eyes, word of the words
and mind of the mind.'
The Kena Upanishad
No matter how meditation is defined, the only person who can understand
what meditation means is, you, yourself. It is only through your own
experience that you can learn anything.
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